It is believed that in ancient China, there was a beast who appeared from the mountains and preyed on people. To scare away the beast, the people of China made loud noises with instruments like drums and cymbals and wore the color red. They also used fireworks to add to the loud sounds. Lion and dragon dances are common during Chinese New Year. It is believed that the loud beats of the drum and the cymbals with the face of an aggressively dancing lion will ward off the negative energy from bad spirits.
If you see a lion dance or a dragon dance, here's the trick to telling the difference between a lion and a dragon. A lion has two people in it's head and a tail and they do lots of jumping around and martial arts tricks. Dragons are long and can have 30-100 people running inside. They have a long nose and often chase a giant pearl. Both are mythical creatures in China, that's why a lot of people get them confused. Lions scare away evil spirits, and dragons bring the rains and control the rivers and oceans.
